Kota Kinabalu: The announcement that Petronas will hand over regulatory power of Sabah’s gas supply to the State is a harbinger of more good things to come, said Sabah Pakatan Harapan (PH) Chairman Datuk Christina Liew.
The former Member of Parliament for Tawau said the announcement heralded the devolution of more powers from the Federal Government to the State Government in tandem with the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63).
Welcoming Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s statement that the Federal Cabinet has agreed that regulatory power over Sabah’s gas supply should be transferred from Putrajaya through Petronas to the State Government, Liew said on Thursday:
“Congratulations to the PM and Sabah Chief Minister. This is precisely, among others, what we Sabahans have been pursuing thus far. We want to move forward with our rights granted to Sabah. Our report on Dec 22, 2022.
“For now, politics should be put on the back burner as we look forward to more ‘goodies’ from the Federal Government in respect of decentralisation which is meant to grant more autonomy to the State Government.”
On Wednesday, Anwar told a press conference that more issues pertaining to MA63 have been resolved and that the details will be announced next month.
In retrospect, Liew said she had called for devolution of power from the Federal Government to enable Sabah to approve applications for tourism licensing and issue licences.
“Sabah wants more power in the tourism sector. In 2019, I had raised this concern during the debate on the National Budget 2020 in the Dewan Rakyat,” the former State Minister of Tourism, Culture and Environment recalled.
Presently, the power to approve and issue licences is within the jurisdiction of the Federal Tourism, Arts and Culture Ministry’s (Motac) Tourism Licensing Division.
Meanwhile, Liew wishes all the people in Sabah “Merry Christmas and a Healthy and Happy New Year 2023.”
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